11/17/2008 - West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Eastern Michigan Eagles and 11th- ranked Purdue Boilermakers meet up for the first time since 1971, as they tangle in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Mackey Arena tonight.
The victor of this game will meet either Georgia or Loyola-Chicago in the North Regional finals on Tuesday. The Eagles rolled to victory in their season opener on Friday, blasting little known Marygrove 119-48. The 71-point margin of victory set a new school record, shattering the previous mark of 59 set against Western Ontario in 1968. It was also the first time that EMU cracked the century mark since a 115-80 win over Concordia in 2002.
As for Purdue, it didn't have any problems in its opener either, scoring a 82-50 victory over Detroit on Friday. With the victory, the Boilermakers improved to 4-0 in season openers under head coach Matt Painter. Purdue returns all of its starters from a team that went 25-9 last season and that is the reason for the high expectations in West Lafayette.
The Boilermakers and Eagles have met just one time previously on the hardwood, with the Purdue capturing a 94-84 victory in 1971.
The Eagles shot 54.7 percent from the field and held an unbelievable 76-37 advantage on the boards, as they cruised past Marygrove on Friday. Brandon Bowdry set career highs with 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead the way, while freshman Branden Harrison tallied 21 points off the bench. Solomon Farris turned in 14 points and seven rebounds, and Justin Dobbins had 11 points and seven boards in the winning effort. Dobbins is expected to be one of the key players for EMU after recording 10.2 ppg and 4.4 rpg a year ago. He will need to be especially good since last year's leading scorer Carlos Medlock (14.8 ppg) has already been lost for the season with a broken foot.
Purdue did it with defense, forcing 20 turnovers and holding Detroit to a dismal 32.7 percent shooting effort from the field in a season opening win on Friday. The Boilermakers, themselves, only turned the bal over three times while knocking down 43.8 percent from the floor. E'Twaun Moore came off the bench and led the team with 18 points and five rebounds. It was a great start for Moore, who emerged as dependable freshman last season, notching 12.9 ppg. JaJuan Johnson and Robbie Hummel were also productive rookies last season and they logged 17 and 14 points, respectively, on Friday. Last season, Hummel was a key contributor with 11.4 ppg and 6.1 rpg, while Johnson posted 5.1 ppg in a less prominent role.
<< Marquette hosts Chicago State in non-league action
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 16th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles are
one of many outstanding Big East Conference teams, and the club will play host
to non-league foe Chicago State this evening.
On Friday, Chicago State opened the sea
<< Suns visit Salt Lake City to face slumping Jazz
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The injury-riddled Utah Jazz are back at home for two
straight games, starting with Monday's tilt versus the Phoenix Suns at
EnergySolutions Arena.
Utah opened the 2008-09 season with five straight wins, then went 1-4 on a
<< Spurs try to reach .500 against woeful Clippers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After opening the season with three straight losses, the
San Antonio Spurs seem to have gotten their act together. They will shoot for
a season high three straight wins tonight against the lowly Los Angeles
Clippers at Staple
<< Struggling Thunder host Rockets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winning hasn't come easy this season for the Oklahoma City
Thunder, who hope an upcoming homestand will produce some victories. Tonight
they will kick off the residency versus the Houston Rockets at the Ford
Center.
Oklah
Second-ranked Huskies host Hawks at XL Center >>
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Connecticut Huskies welcome
in-state foe Hartford to the XL Center this evening, for a non-conference
clash.
The Huskies opened their 2008-09 season in Storrs, routing Western Carolina,
81-5
RedHawks fly into Steel City to challenge Panthers >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fifth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers are set
to host a pesky bunch of Miami-Ohio RedHawks in an early season non-conference
clash.
Miami already has two games under its belt, as the squad took part in the 2K
James Madison and Davidson square off in NIT Season Tip-Off >>
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Curry leads his 20th-ranked Davidson
Wildcats into tonight's NIT Season Tip-Off clash with the James Madison Dukes.
The winner and loser of this game will take on either Mississippi Valley State
or the host
England squad hit with injuries ahead of Germany friendly >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmy Bullard and Scott Parker have been
called up into the England squad for the friendly against Germany, after
Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were ruled out by injury.
Gerrard and Lampard ar
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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